How do you manage your tasks?

[Thenior]

hey guys,

My life has become absolutely crazy the last year.

I had my firstborn 7 months ago, my responsibilities at work have escalated (and it's a young business, not very many business professionals here, so it is having some growing pains as management is figured out). Granted, it's been around for 4 years, but we are starting to reach globally - so we really need some tight organization.

I also am taking school half time, managing an off and on web contract, as well as trying to build my own side profit website.

So, needless to say, just using a basic online task manager and organizing files in outlook isn't enough anymore.

Here are my challenges:

-my tasks vary. It can be a 15 minute call to a customer, a 3 hour computer repair job, project research, or it could be something failed on equipment and I need to spend my whole day working on a task.

-I have varied contexts and email accounts. For instance, most of my tasks are my 9-5 job. But I have home, school, web contract 1, and my own website.

-In the past, I would use toodledo.com to save my tasks. During the day, I would write tasks down on a notepad as well. I would have a print off of my toodledo tasks, as I completed them, I could cross them out. At the end of the day, I would update my toodledo list, and put in any new tasks I didn't do that day.

-Since my tasks are commonly customer oriented (i.e. NOW!!!), I need a way to look at my tasks, and tell a customer a realistic time when I can get back to them. I.E., I need a way to alot a task duration and organize in a calendar.



What I have tried:

I recently started trying to use Outlook tasks and Calendar. But what I hate about it is that it seperates tasks and events so much. For instance, I drag a task onto my calendar, and it turns it into an event. I mark it off as complete, but it still thinks I have the \"event\" to go to. I want tasks = events.



Any ideas? I feel so swamped I can't keep up.

[Gekko71]

Sorry Thenior, I must've missed this thread otherwise I would have responded earlier.

My advice is keep it VERY simple. If the little one is not sleeping (as my 2nd kid didn't do for 18 months) I honestly found the easiest way was to have one long To Do list, written in a paper notebook by hand.

I know, I know - very low tech...but when you are operating on VERY little sleep for months on end, the last thing I wanted was another complication.

Everything I had to do for work and home went in that list - Everything! I can't tell you how many times it saved my arse when really sleep deprived (it also got me into trouble when I would forget to add something).

Seriously - simplicity first. Coping with a newborn is the very LAST time you should be trying anything new - you have enough new stuff to deal with. Keep it very very simple and that way you only have to remember where you put the damn thing and curse yourself for not tying a pen to the spine of the notebook.

Congratulations on the new arrival and good luck.

[KoolBear]

Congratulations on the new arrival and good luck.

ditto, been there done that, my two kids were the reason I left the community for so many years!

Now I use their minds to keep me organized, since nearly everything I do is for them anyway

[Ferno]

have you thought about hiring an executive assistant?

[Isaac]

sorry, kind of skimmed this.

I use google calander every day, even during vacation hours. It allows tasks to be placed in the same bar with \"day long\" events.



I like it's pop-up and sms alarms.

[dissent]

I've used a Franklin planner for years - the paper one, not the electronic one. Listing tasks, and then prioritizing them, is helpful to maximize your time efficiency.

[Thenior]

have you thought about hiring an executive assistant?

I seriously could use it... I asked management to hire another person, but it never happened.

[Isaac]

I don't know too much about this product, because it does so much, but it might have something you need. It looks very flexible.

https://www.smartsheet.com/

[Thenior]

yeah, the more I look into it, the more I realized I am just overtasked. I can keep up fine with tasks outside my 9-5 job, but I just have too much to do @ work.

I just went back to my old way of using Toodledo and a pad of paper - works really well. Weird how we have all this advanced task management software, and the simple way works best.

[Isaac]

For some yes. I love Google Calender.

[ccb056]

Blackberry

[Ferno]

Check to see if there's any kind of policy regarding personal hiring. If not, you can hire help and pay them yourself.

[Thenior]

Ferno... kind of a good idea, but I make <$40k/ year. It's just not feasible for me. Especially considering the main source of my problem is work related - I manage to keep up with other tasks fairly well.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.